I proposed to the Mariners, that it would be of great benefit in Navigation to make use of [the telescope] upon the round-top of a ship, to discover and kenne Vessels afar off.

We ken them from afar.

Quotations

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:ken.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

ken (uncountable)

Knowledge, perception, or sight.

1957, United States Congressional serial set - Issue 11976:

These people, these 20 or 25, were in my ken. Senator Jenner. In his what? Mr. Greenglass. My ken, my line of vision, my knowledge.

1977, Roulhac Toledano, ‎Sally Kittredge Evans, The Esplanade Ridge:

On this occasion, I wrote to them: "Two more modest and deserving people than you are not in our ken; and it is but fitting that you receive this, preservation's most prestigious prize, for your selfless devotion to the cause through the years.

1999, Catherine Z. Elgin, Considered Judgment:

Since nothing in our ken differentiates knowledge from luck, something beyond our ken is introduced to do so. But the conviction that we know something is small comfort when coupled with the realization that we cannot tell what.

2012, Keith McCarthy, Nor All Your Tears:

I couldn't see the funny side myself, but Tristan could; after a while he could hardly control his merriment, in fact, so that he collapsed back on the bed, continuing to chortle, more of his rather unpleasant teeth making an unwelcome appearance in my ken.

(nautical) Range of sight.

1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 59-60:

At once as far as Angels kenn he views

The dismal Situation waste and wilde ...

Usage notes

In common usage a fossil word, found only in the phrase beyond one’s ken.

Kabuverdianu

Etymology

Pronoun

Kurdish

Pronunciation

Noun

Ladino

Etymology

Pronoun

ken (Latin spelling, Hebrew spellingקיין‎)

who, whom

whoever, whomever

Mandarin

Romanization

ken

Nonstandard spelling of kén.

Nonstandard spelling of kěn.

Nonstandard spelling of kèn.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Papiamentu

Alternative forms

kende(synonym)

Etymology

From Portuguesequem and Spanishquien and Kabuverdianuken.

Pronoun

ken

who

Pennsylvania German

Alternative forms

kee

Etymology

Compare Germankein, Dutchgeen.

Determiner

ken

no

Inflection

Scots

Etymology

From Old Englishcennan(“make known, declare, acknowledge”), originally "make to know", causative of cunnan(“to become acquainted with, to know”); from Proto-Germanic*kannijaną.

Related Words

Browse the English Dictionary

License

This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.